Continuous rail railway crossing



J. A HARE. CONTINUQU; RAIL' RAILWAY cRosslNG.

APPLICATION FILED OCT- I. I9I7.

Patented May 27, 1919.

SHEETS-sneer 1.

JILIf 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2. /7

Patented May 27, 19H).

1. A. HABE. CONTINUOUS RAIL RAILWAY CROSSING.

APPLICATION FILED OCT-1, |917.

I ArroH/vfy i oFFioE. y

'JOI-IN A. HABE, 0F NEW YORK, N. Y.

CONTINUOUS-RAIL RAILWAY-CROSSING.

Spe'ccation of Letters Patent. Patnteid May 27, 1919.

Application filed October 1, 1917. SerialNo. 194,175.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN A. I-IARE, residing at New York, inthe countyof New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Continuous-Rail Railway-Crossings, of which thefollowing is a speciiication.

This invention relates to Va continuousrail railway crossing.

The object of the invention is'to provide a simple, practical andelic-ient means whereby to provide a continuous and even surface to betraversed by the car wheels at railway crossings. f

A furthery object is to provide means adapted to be controlled by anapproaching car in either direction for automatically providinganunobstructed and smooth traction surface for the wheels of that car.

A more detailed object is to provide suitable turn tables at the railintersections, which turn tables are formed to provide portions of thetraction surface and are adapted to be automatically turned by anapproach- Ying car so as to bring the traction surface of the turn tableinto proper register for permitting passage of the approaching car.

A further detailed object is to provide simple, inexpensive andpractical means for simultaneously operating the turn tables at the fouror more rail intersections.

A further object is to provide means whereby the operating mechanism maybe quickly and easily assembled or disassembled.

A further object is to arrange the operating mechanismv so that it may,if desired, be

operated in oil or grease, and whereby it4 may not be detrimentallyaffected by changes in temperature o r by the presence of snow and iceupon the roadway. Y y

A further object is to. providesuitable and efficient mountings for theturn tables. A further object is to provide means to insure a full,completeA and positive operation of the turn tables at each'operation ofthe automatic control.

A further object is to provide means whereby the degree of rotation'automatically imparted to the turn tables by a passing vehicle may beadjusted so as thus to enable the use of similar parts regardless of theangular relation of the crossing rails.

Other objects and aims of the invention, more or less specific thanthose referred to above, will be in part obvious and in. part pointed.out in the course of the following description of the elements,combinations,

arrangements of parts and applications ofk principles, .constituting theinvention; and the scope .of protection contemplated will beindicatedfin the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings which are to be taken as a part of thisspecication,

and in which I have shown merely Ya prei'crred form of embodiment of theinvention. Figure 1 is a plan view of arailway crossing constructed inaccordance with this invention, parts of the structure being broken.

away so" as vto better vdisclose the operating elements for one of theturn tables. Y

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the structure shownY in Fig. l,parts being illustrated in section upon the plane of line II ofFig.1 `f

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail sectional view of one of the automaticcontrol devices, the section being' taken substantially upon the planeof line III of Fig. -1.`

Fig. 4 is a similarly enlarged sectional view illustrati-ng the parts ofFig. 3 but being' taken substantially upon the plane of line IV of Fig.vl. L y l Fig.z .5 is' a' similarly enlarged sectional view illustratingthe construction and arrangement ofthe parts of one of the turntables'jand its lmountingand operating Velements, the section beingtaken substantially upon the planeV of line V-of Fig. 1, and v Fig. 6is, a plan view 'illustrating a modification in which the invention isshown as applied to railways employing central slots midway between thetrack rails.

Referring to the drawings for describing in detail the structure whichis illustrated therein, the reference character L indicates the'turntables; These arearranged at the intersection' of the rails Grand eachis prodesignedl soas to facilitate easy .and correct assembling. Toassemble the parts it is simply necessary to slide one of the shafts 7longitudinally'into one of thetubular openings 28,y through an entrancehole which is later closed byA a screw plug 29. Asthe shaft is advancedit is threaded` through the gears 8 and 9 which are held in the recesses30. The shaft is moved inwardly so that its squared end passes beyondthe adjacent pocket 18; The housing 17 with the pinion and the plungerl() assembled therein, is then vlowered into the pocket and thel shaftis pushed backwardly through the squared hole of the pinion.

This process is repeated for each shaft.

After the shafts are in position the turn tables are then lowered intotheir pockets So that the gears 6 of the turn tables engage the gears Softhe shafts. The assembly is then complete.

As shown particularly in Fig.V 5, each turn table is preferably carriedin a separately formed cylindrical carrier, o-r bearing member, 31.These bearing members are threaded into threaded pocketswformed in thebody member' Gr so that they become in effect a part of the body memberthough they may be moved as occasion requires` The interior of eachbearing member is formed to directly receive the turn tables. VThe innercylindrical walls ofthe bearing member are preferably machined so as toform a snug fit with the exterior walls of the turn table, and a packingring 32 is provided for preventing flow of moisture or the like into thej ointl between the turn table and the walls of the bearing member. Thebottom wall of the bearing member forms a broad and substantial surfaceupon which the lower end of the turn table is supported.

A suitable opening is formed in the bottom wall of the bearing memberfor the passage of a short shaft 33 which carries the gear 6 atits lower,end beyond the bottom wall of the bearing member. The gear 6 is fixedrigidly to the shaft 33. i

The engagement of the lower end of the lturn table'iat against.' thebottom wall of the bearing member, and the engagement of the lowersurface of the bearing member in turn flat against the bottom wall ofthe threaded pocket of the body member insures a solid metallic supportfor the turn table so that the upper traction surface of the turn tablemay not be forced downwardly by the weight of a passing car.V f 'YPreferably each turntable isy plrovided with an oil wellk 34 thereinhaving ducts 35 leading-to various parts ofthe joint between the turntable and the'wall of the bearing member. `The well 34 is closed by aplug 36 and a small plunger head 37 is arranged in the'vwell. Thisplunger head is carried upon a lscrew 38 which projects through the plug36. Rotation of the screw, as by vmeans of ra screw driver or a liketool engaging the upper end of the screw, will lcause the plunger headto movedownwardly andforce the oil through the ducts 35.

Y Infthe modification Fig.l 6, a trackv crossing is'illustrated whichemploys a central slot 39 vsuch as is used incertain electricv railways.

In this modification auxiliary, or intermediate-turn tables 40areprovided at the points where the slots 39 cross the slots 1 and 2 of thetrack rails.

These turn tables 40 may be the vsame .as

in the opposite position they provide con-v tinuous traction surface ofthe slot for a 'vehiclepassing in that direction.

.As many` changes could be made in this construction. without departing.from the scopeof the invention'as defined in the following claims. Itisintended that all matter contained in vthe .above description or shownin the accompanying drawings, shall be interpreted as illustrative onlyland noti'n a limiting sense.V Y f In order to provide for an adjustmentof the degree of rotation automatically imparted to the turn tables by apassing vehicle the plungers 10 are preferably made up of two parts asclearly seen in Fig. 4. rlhese two parts, as 41 andv 42,.are providedwith mating'knurled surfaces 43 and they are bolted together by bolts 44which extend through a slot 45 formed preferably in the part 42. Theupper end of the part 42 provides the shoulder 25 which Vengages theshoulder24 while the lower end` of the part 41 provides the, shoulderwhichengages'the bottom wall 26 of the housing.v i

It is apparent that by adjusting the part 42 upwardly with respect tothe part 41 then the shoulder 25 will soonerl engage, the

lshoulder 24 and limit the upward movement the .plunger in its allotedspace within the V housings 17 said housing is preferably divided asshown at 46. When the screws 44 are screwed home and the plunger is inposition, the engagement of the outer endsof the tersection localities,turn tables at said railcant and for preventing access of foreign 10intersection localities being received in matter to the lubricant.

pockets formed in the body part, the body In testimony whereof I aix mysignature part bving an opening extlending tlierein the presence of twoWitnesses.

t rou communicatin Wit said oc :ets

adaptd to contain a luricant for sai)d turn JOHN A' HABE' tables, andpackings arranged Within the Witnesses: pockets in engagement With'theturn tables L. GEssFoRD HANDY, for preventing displacement of the lubri-MAY SCHULZ.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, ID. C.

